Update 2 - A Primer on Xenia
Xenia was the world I created specifically for this book. It is your typical high fantasy, swords and sorcery, elves and orcs world. You’ll note several discrepancies in the map image associated with this post and what you will read below. I can assure you there are already differences in the story and more to come, but it’s kind of fun to see where things started and compare them to where they have and will continue to evolve.
Deities
While there are many lesser gods in the world with their own followers, clerics, paladins and places of worship, the two main deities are Rashamoric (RAH-shah-MOOR-ik) and Ciromahsar (Sir-RAH-MAH-sahr).
Yes, I am going to give you the proper way to pronounce these words so no one has to argue over how to properly say “Drzzt”.
Oh, yeah - ZEE-nee-ah (Xenia).
Polar opposites of one another, Rashamoric represents evil, darkness and the worst intentions of man. He appears as a wispy black shadowy figure with piercing white eyes. Ciromahsar, naturally, is a being of pure light. He appears like the photo negative of Rashamoric and represents goodness, compassion and all the best traits of man. Their eternal struggle must be kept in perfect balance lest the world be thrown off its moral axis and extremely bad things come to be.
The Sentinels of Light
The Sentinels are the church that follows Ciromahsar. They are your standard paladins in brightly shining armor who are righteous and just and serve as protectors of the land. They are based in the Citadel of Light within Xenia’s capital city of Lex Xaia (LEX ex-ZAY-ah).
The Legion of Darkness
The Legion are the followers of Rashamoric. They remain shrouded in the shadows, rarely seen in the light of day. While they do gather in worship of their dark lord, they do not have an organized church like the Sentinels. Their gatherings are usually small so as to be inconspicuous, but they are many. Their sacred pact with their Demon of Darkness is said to grant them unnatural gifts.
Elves
The elves live in the capital city of Tribantuan within the massive Xenia forest. They do not interact with humans much, keeping to themselves, and are rarely seen outside the confines of their forest home. There is not bad blood between humans and elves, per se, the elves just choose to remain isolated.
Dwarves
Dwarves are a race of legend in Xenia. Recorded history speaks of their culture and its contributions to magic, engineering and architecture, but they disappeared from the continent several centuries ago.
Magic
Magic does exist in Xenia. It is a great and powerful magic, and those that wield it can perform wondrous acts limited only by their ambition and imagination. The number of people who can use it however are small and rare in number.
That’s probably the right balance of “what you need to know” and “saving some surprises for later”. If I think of anything else important, I’ll be sure to add it but let’s be honest, if I have to tell you here instead of organically in my storytelling, a rather inadequate storyteller that doth make me.